


(under the kitchen lights) you look like dynamite

by waterforests



Category: JBJ (Band), Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Drunken Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 16:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15688743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterforests/pseuds/waterforests
Summary: “Come on, Insoo.” Eunki was tugging on his arm a bit, but Insoo was stuck staring at Zhengting’s house. It still felt too big to be rented by a few college students, even though he’d been there a few times already. “You’re not really going to just stand here, right? Don’t you like having fun…? Ever? Or looking good for someone?”(Or: Insoo kisses someone else's TA in a gross bathroom at a party he shouldn't have been at anyways.)





	(under the kitchen lights) you look like dynamite

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I can explain-- (no, I can't.) Insoo has been occupying my mind a lot lately. I want him to have a happy life so bad. 
> 
> This was supposed to be quick and dirty but it took me a long time to write even if it still ended up small?
> 
> It was also meant to be a songfic, originally, but instead just heavily inspired by the song I was thinking of. Which is, of course, [Dance To This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhxhNIQBKJI) by Troye Sivan feat. Ariana Grande.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> small update 11/11/18: swapped around some references to a certain kim yongguk to change him to another character bc i never want to think about yongguk again in my life if possible :)

“Come on, Insoo.” Eunki was tugging on his arm a bit, but Insoo was stuck staring at Zhengting’s house. It still felt too big to be rented by a few college students, even though he’d been there a few times already. “You’re not really going to just stand here, right? Don’t you like having fun…? Ever? Or looking good for someone?”

Insoo couldn’t help but look down at himself at that last thing. Teeshirt and jeans. It wasn’t even a nice teeshirt, but did that matter? It was just a house party. “Okay you’re the one who decided you needed to drag me out, though?”

“Yeah, because you just make me so sad to look at. You really need some fun in your life.” Eunki pulled his favorite pouting face, and even though Insoo really should’ve known better by now, he still fell for it anyways.

“Fine. Shut up. I’ll go in.” He knew he sounded snappy, but Eunki of all people could definitely handle it.

“Really?” Eunki smiled and took Insoo’s hand. Eunki knew he hated that, honestly, but Eunki was unstoppable. Mostly. “You’ll have fun, I promise.”

* * *

It wasn’t really that fun. Insoo wasn’t sure why he always listened to Eunki when he said things like that, considering Eunki had already ditched him for some hookup. He couldn’t even find Zhengting to prove that he’d actually bothered to show up to this stupid house party on a Thursday when he should really be studying for a midterm the next week.

He really had to wonder if Zhengting even cared about his studies, but he seemed to breeze through everything anyways.

At least he knew the way to the kitchen, and where Zhengting kept at least some of the beer. He was so occupied with finding a PBR and then downing it all in one go that he didn’t notice that someone else was in the kitchen with him. Well, he didn’t notice until he heard a soft laugh.

He was about to snap at whoever it was and tell them to leave him alone, until he actually recognized him. Sort of. He didn’t know his name but he knew he was a first year masters student. He’d seen him because he shared offices with the TA for the psychology class he was taking to fulfill one of his last requirements, and sometimes their office hours overlapped. Insoo wasn’t even sure what degree he was getting, he’d never bothered to look.

He had regretted showing up at a shitty house party but now he regretted getting caught with a beer in his hand by someone who was more respectable than him.

“Hi.” The guy was grinning at him and his smile was a little bit fucked up but in a way that was absolutely sweet and endearing and not at all ugly. He’d never thought about looking at his face before, but now that he did, he was cute. Pretty. Not his type. Must be beer goggles. Had to be. He really wasn’t looking for someone right now.

“You look really familiar, have we met?” He was squinting at Insoo a bit.

“No…?” It wasn’t really a lie. “I think you TA for one of my friends?” He hoped. That would make this less awkward.

“Oh? Really? I’m Kenta Takada.” He looked at him.

“Insoo. Why are you even at an undergrad party like this?”

“Zhengting invited me. He’s taking the gender studies class I TA for so I think he’s trying to butter me up to give him a better grade, but I’m not going to do it. It’s not like I’m that much older than the people here, and it doesn’t hurt to have friends, no?” He smiled.

“Maybe Zhengting just likes you?” Zhengting liked everyone, honestly. He’d liked Insoo at one point, even, but Insoo had pushed him off because at that time he’d just thought that Eunki had a thing for Zhengting instead.

(That didn’t turn out to be exactly true.)

“Oh? I guess so, but I don’t date my students. I’d really like to keep my job? You know.” Kenta took another chug of his beer can. “Ugh, this is awful.”

“… Tell me about it.” Insoo was distracted now, enchanted by the way Kenta formed his words and the way he was swaying slightly already and the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he he drank his beer. Even the way he was wincing a little while drinking.

He cast a glance at Insoo again “Why are you in the kitchen anyways?”

Insoo just shrugged. “I’m just here because my friend dragged me along, but he left already.”

“You didn’t leave with him?”

Insoo snorted. “He found someone, I guess.”

“Oh. So he ditched you for that?” His lips curled up, a little amused. “That’s too bad. Did you like him?”

“No— no, we’re just friends.” Mostly. Eunki had made it clear that was interested in almost anyone else, and Insoo was fine with it.

“Oh. I see.” He was smiling again, wider this time. “Insoo, do you want another drink? I could get you something.”

“Just something that isn’t a shitty beer.”

“I think there’s punch?”

Insoo scrunched his nose. “I think I saw some Smirnoff or something in the bottom of the cooler so get me one of those.”

Kenta raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sick of beer okay. Don’t judge.”

Kenta laughed as he ventured out of the kitchen. Insoo hoped he wouldn’t take too long. He didn’t like being at parties, but he hated being alone at them more.

The next person to walk into the kitchen wasn’t Kenta. It was Taedong, his roommate from last year. Taedong actually looked put together, but at least the look he was giving Insoo only felt passively judgmental.

“I thought you hated parties, Insoo.”

“Yeah, well. Eunki made me bring him but he found some other guy to hook up with.” He had to try _really_ hard to not sound like he was too annoyed by this.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I just saw them go out so I don’t know who it was though.” More like he had been trying hard not to look.

Taedong was just staring at him, and he had definitely started to look more judgmental.

“What?”

“You’re still here even though Eunki ditched you.”

“No, uh— someone’s getting me a drink?”

Taedong blinked. “Who?”

“… Kenta Takada?”

“You know Kenta? He TAs for that class I take with Zhengting. He’s here?”

“Yeah.”

Taedong’s expression was completely unreadable, not that Insoo ever had a good read off of him. “Don't enjoy yourself too much, I guess.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

"Nothing." Taedong shrugged and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Insoo alone again. Thankfully it wasn’t for that long.

“Insoo?” Kenta poked his head around the corner. “Oh good, you’re still here. Weren’t you bored?”

Insoo smiled at him, just a tiny bit. “I’m not bored now.”

That gets a laugh. “Here’s your drink.” He shoved a bottle of Smirnoff Ice into his hand, original flavor and thankfully still extremely cold. “We’re dancing after you finish this.”

“Oh?” 

“Yeah, I think you need it.”

“I don’t—” He can see something screwing up in Kenta’s face, like he was about to laugh. 

“You didn’t tell me it was your _best_ friend who left you here.”

“Who—” Insoo couldn’t help but blink.

“Your friend just told me.”

“Taedong?”

“Yeah? I saw him on the way back. I TA for him. Anyways, drink that before it warms up.”

Insoo obeyed. The alcohol went down a bit easier than it usually did, even if it was as sweet and disgusting as usual. He could feel Kenta’s eyes on him the whole time, though, and he wasn’t sure if that was making the experience better or just stretch on longer than it should.

“You wanna dance now?”

Insoo stared at him for a second. He felt dumb. And he didn’t know why he was so nervous when a cute guy was trying to hit on him? _Was_ hitting on him?

These things didn’t happen to Insoo. But maybe trusting Kenta a little wouldn’t be too bad.

“Sure.”

* * *

The basement of Zhengting’s house had become a club for this party, as it usually did. Thanks to the number of people who’d showed up it was unnaturally damp down here, which only made it feel even more crowded than it actually was. The music was a little too loud and sounded like dubstep, which made him hesitate.

Kenta looked at him. “Are you going to tell me that you actually can’t dance now that we’re down here?”

Insoo was a good dancer when he was sober, and a little bolder about it when he was drunk. “Do you?”

“Sometimes.” Kenta’s sharp smile was a far better answer than that word was.

“I just don’t like this song?”

Kenta leaned to give Insoo a peck on the cheek before he could protest. “Then go to the DJ and ask him to put something else on.” 

“What!” Kenta was still just smiling at him, though, in a way that told Insoo that he absolutely had to be the one.

* * *

He’d just asked Kiwon to change the song, figuring that since Kiwon at least kind of knew him that he’d change the song to something Insoo actually liked dancing to.

But Kiwon must have had other plans for him, because the song he changed to was something more like you’d play for a slow dance in high school, and Insoo had to walk back to Kenta only to see him raising a brow at him.

“You like this?”

“It’s not bad?” It really wasn’t, and it’s not like he was going to push Kiwon’s good will to change it again. And he didn’t really feel like talking anymore when Kenta was right in front of him, so he just offered him a hand instead.

Kenta didn’t say anything, he just turned himself so he could settle himself into Insoo’s front.

It was easy to wrap his arms around Kenta. It was easy to sway along, easy to not push this but still be comfortable.

“You’re hesitating? Why?” He couldn’t see Kenta’s face and Insoo couldn’t really tell what he was feeling from his voice alone.

“Really?

“Yeah. You should be dancing with me but you’re barely even trying.” He sounded petulant, almost.

“This song isn’t really good for that.”

He thought he heard a giggle but he couldn’t tell. “I guess not.”

Insoo shifted his arms around Kenta’s shoulders. “You guess not?”

Kenta pushed Insoo’s arms off of him. Insoo couldn’t help but exhale, because he couldn’t believe he’d already messed this up.

“Don’t worry, I’m just— I’m turning around.” The smile Kenta gave him once he’d turned around was almost unnervingly foxlike. “Hold me.”

Insoo barely needed the prompt.

“Tighter, Insoo.”

“Okay.” It wasn’t like Insoo really wanted to let go.

“This is better, right?” Kenta was pushing into him, a little bit, and Insoo couldn’t focus.

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

As interested as Kenta seemed to be, Insoo was still too afraid to push it too much. Kenta still seemed too sweet, somehow. But he still let his hands wander down to the hem of Kenta’s pants as they dance, even if he wasn’t going to nudge things further.

“Insoo.” Just audibly enough so that Insoo could hear him.

“What?”

“Are you really going to pull my pants off on the middle of the dance floor?”

“Do you want me to?” It was so ridiculous that Insoo couldn’t help but smile a bit looking at him.

“No… you should kiss me, though?”

“Here?” On this crowded dance floor where too many of Insoo’s aquaintances could already see him dancing with this weirdly hot grad student.

“You don’t want to?”

“You’re a TA.”

“You aren’t my student, though… whatever.” Kenta grabbed his hand, and started leading Insoo to the bathroom. “I’ll pretend I’m sick.”

Thankfully it didn’t take too long to make it to the bathroom and for Kenta to knock on the door. “Hello?”

Kenta shrugged when there wasn’t an answer and pushed in, tugging Insoo along. Thankfully it really wasn’t occupied, even if it was a little disgusting.

Kenta turned back to Insoo, a pout playing on his lips (even if it wasn’t as good as Eunki’s). “Insoo, kiss me.” 

“Huh?”

“Well it’s not like you’re gonna watch me pee, right? So just kiss me. No one’s gonna remember we were in this bathroom together tomorrow.”

Insoo rolled his eyes. “You’re drunk.”

“I had one beer. You drank more.” Kenta tugged him closer suddenly, but Insoo wasn’t going to pull away.

“Please.” Kenta cocked his head up. “Insoo, don’t you want to?”

He did and he didn’t. He definitely wanted to kiss Kenta but he also didn’t like taking risks. Definitely not risks like kissing smart older boys who probably knew a lot better what they wanted to do with their lives than he did.

Kenta apparently wasn’t interested in giving Insoo a choice, though, since he locked his hands around the back of Insoo’s head to pull Insoo down toward him.

“You’re really prudish, you know.” And then Kenta kissed him.

He tasted a bit bad (beer tended to do that). He was a tiny bit bitey (beer was also probably the cause of that, although it wasn’t like Insoo had any reference for how Kenta kissed. He clearly knew what he was doing though, even if Insoo was standing almost stock still as Kenta was making out with him.

“Insoo.” He muttered a bit, before licking into Insoo’s mouth for a moment. A moment that felt too short, somehow, maybe because Insoo was too hesitant to really meet him halfway.

“Hm?”

“I like you a lot.”

“Uh…” Insoo pulled off. This felt awkward. “You’re drunk.”

“I’m not.” The pout was back, and so were Kenta’s hands around his waist.

“This isn’t the right time for you to be telling me shit like that.” Maybe because it made him nervous.

Kenta just blinked. “Okay. Kiss me again?”

“We just kissed.”

“You just stood there while I kissed you.” The foxy smile was back on his face. “I want to know you like it.”

Logically, Insoo knew he could say no. But he didn’t really want to, especially not when Kenta wanted more. For some reason.

“Okay.”

Kenta just smiled and threaded his fingers through Insoo hair. “At least put your arms around me this time?”

Insoo just twitched a bit, but he complied and leaned in.

It was less awkward like this. It was nice to be able to pull him closer and lick in, to feel the tug of Kenta’s hands in his hair and the warmth of their bodies together. He really wanted to keep it going this time, especially knowing how much Kenta seemed to want him. Until there’s a knock on the door, and Insoo forces himself to pull off.

Of course he wouldn’t be able to get this quite right. But Kenta was still smiling. 

“Just a minute!” But then he grinned at Insoo. “You wanna get out of here?”

“Um, sure?”

“Alright.” He opened the door, and of course it had to be Zhengting there. 

“Insoo!” Zhengting was all smiles, until he noticed who was with him.

“Kenta?” His smile turned into a frown for just a second, but Insoo knew Zhengting was good at acting. It only took a second for his expression to turn into a smile again.

“Sorry, but I need to use the bathroom.”

“No, that’s fine.” Insoo shifted to let him pass, and then shut the door.

Kenta didn’t say anything, and Insoo decided that the mood was definitely ruined.

“So… maybe I’ll see you around?”

Kenta just gave him a bit of a smile again. “Sure. Just ask Taedong for my office hours.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had a very specific party I actually attended in college when I wrote this, so it's probably hard to visualize some of what I was thinking about since no one reading this went to that party. (... Probably)
> 
> But here are some things to consider:
> 
> Original Smirnoff Ice is theoretically lemon lime flavored but it mostly **tastes** like pure corn syrup and barely like alcohol.  
>  The way sweaty skin feels when you **touch** it.  
>  The **smell** of anti bacterial wipes in a bathroom trying to mask something disgusting and failing.  
>  The **sound** of music coming from the floor below, even more than when it's muffled by a bathroom door.  
>  What you **see** when you first get the inklings of a crush no matter what fueled it.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed ♥


End file.
